Pakistan prisoners segregated in Jammu's Kot Bhalwal prison

Jammu: After the murderous attack on a Pakistani prisoner in the Kot Bhalwal Jail here, the 17 other Pakistani prisoners have been moved to separate barracks although all Indian and Pakistani inmates work together under strict vigil, an official said on Saturday.

"They are now kept in segregated barracks. But since they have to undergo rigorous imprisonment they have to put in labour. So while working, all of them, whether Indians Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, are together, but we are now keeping a strict vigil on them," the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Prisons, Mohammad Sultan Lone, told reporters.

Sanaullah Ranjay, a Pakistani in Jammu's Kot Bhalwal jail, was critically injured after being attacked by an Indian prisoner Vinod Kumar on Friday. Sanaullah is now being treated at Chandigarh's Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER).

Sanaullah Ranjay, a Pakistani in Jammu's Kot Bhalwal jail, was critically injured after being attacked by an Indian prisoner on Friday.

Kot Bhalwal jail also houses some Kashmiri separatist leaders, besides other prisoners. "The security of the all the jails has been reviewed and corrective steps taken wherever required," Lone said. Queried about the motive behind the attack, Lone said: "We believe there must have been some provocation by the victim. The police is probing all this."

Other jail sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Sanaullah, who was working along with Vinod Kumar in the jail ground, made some remarks on Sarabjit Singh, the Indian death row prisoner who died in a Lahore hospital on Thursday a week after being brutally assaulted in jail.

"This provoked Vinod to attack Sanaullah. He first hit Sanaullah with a brick and then with a shovel," the sources said. But Lone said: "We are still ascertaining as to how all this happened."

Meanwhile, the police have registered a case against Vinod Kumar, a former Indian army soldier convicted of murdering his colleague in Leh, for the murderous assault on Sanaullah. "He is in police custody now," Lone said.

Kot Bhalwal Jail Superintendent Rajni Sehgal, who was suspended along with two jail wardens for dereliction of duty, has handed over charge to Danesh Sharma, superintendent of Jammu Central Jail. The Jammu and Kashmir government has ordered a probe into the incident by Principal Secretary (Home) Suresh Kumar.

Sanaullah, a resident of Sialkot, was in Kot Bhalwal jail for the last 17 years on murder charges in militancy-related incidents. He has been charged with two different blasts in passenger buses near Jammu in 1990. Kot Bhalwal jail has a total of 400 prisoners though its capacity is bigger.